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1st Thessalonians
1st Thessalonians Introduction
1.1-3
June 28th 2020
THESSALONICA was a city and sea-port of Macedonia. It was at the head of the bay Thermaicus (or the Gulf of Thessalonica) and was therefore, favorable to commerce.
Because of its location on the great AEgean Way and possessed an excellent harbor it had obvious advantages over other portless places in Asia minor.
Geographically it was south-west of Philippi and Amphipolis and was a short distance north-east of Berea.
Macedonia was an independent country until it was subdued by the Romans. I’m not going to go into what caused the war that allowed Roman to overtake it, but suffice it to say, the Romans won.
By the time Paul visited the city it was called, Thessalonica, but was anciently called Therme.
We are informed, by the historian Strabo, that it was a guy named Cassander who changed the name from Therme to Thessalonica, in honor of his wife.
Others have said that the name was given to it by Philip himself, in memory of a victory he had over the armies of Thessaly.
In the time of Brutus and Cassius it was a city of so much importance that the promise of being permitted to plunder the city, as the reward of victory, infused new courage into their armies to fight on.
The city was inhabited by Greeks, Romans, and Jews and was adored with many gods, but particularly Jupiter who was the father of Hercules.
Thessalonica had a celebrated amphitheater where gladiatorial shows were held for the amusement of the citizens along with a circus for public games.
The Roman part of the population was, of course, introduced after the conquest, and it is impossible now to estimate the relative number of the Greeks and the Romans present when the gospel was preached there.
In common with most of the other cities of Greece, a considerable number of Jews resided in Thessalonica and they had a synagogue at the time when the city was visited by Paul (in Acts 17:1).
Little is known of the morals of the place, but there is reason to believe that it was somewhat distinguished for lacking manners or politeness and then, an overall low morality.
Lucian, another historian, said of Thessalonica
“The females, particularly, could claim little credit on the score of a modest, retiring demeanor; for this virtue was in so low estimation in the city, that the place was selected as the scene of the wanton fancies of the satirist.”
The gospel was first preached in Thessalonica by Paul and Silas.
After their release from imprisonment at Philippi, they passed through Amphipolis and Appollonia, and came to Thessalonica.
For some reason they appear to not have paused to preach in either of the first two places but went directly to the city of Thessalonica which appears to have been a much more important place at that time and it could have been that they were attracted to it because so many Jews resided there.
As we know by now it was customary for the apostle Paul, when he came to a place where there were Jews, to preach the gospel first to them and since there was a synagogue in Thessalonica, he entered it, and, “for three Sabbath days,” “reasoned with the Jews in regard to the Messiah.”
According to Acts 17 the points on which he attempted to convince them were that according to the Scriptures, it was necessary that the Messiah should be put to death, and that he would rise from the dead, and that all the predictions on these points were completely fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
A few of the Jews believed but a much larger number of the `devout Greeks,’ (along with a considerable number of females from the more elevated ranks) came to faith.
From these converts the church was organized, and the number of the converted appears to have been large.
It is not quite certain how long Paul and Silas remained at Thessalonica. But we do know that they only preached in the synagogue for three Sabbaths, and if that were all the time that they remained there, then the total time was three weeks.
But perhaps they stayed longer. It is also possible that they were excluded from the synagogue but still found some other place in which to preach to others.
This would seem probable from one or two circumstances referred to in the history (Acts) and in the Epistle.
In Acts 17:5, it appears that Paul and Silas, for a time at least, made the house of Jason their home, and that such large numbers responded to their ministry that the Jews of the place got pretty agitated.
In this letter, (1st Thessalonians 2:9) Paul says that when he was among them, he “labored night and day, because he would not be chargeable unto any of them, and preached unto them the gospel of God.” I like that term, the Gospel of God.
2nd Thessalonians 3:8 makes it seem that he was there longer than three Sabbaths and as he may have labored at his usual occupation for support (tentmaking) before receiving direct support from Jason.
It also appears, from Philippians 4:16, that he was there long enough to receive repeated supplies from the church at Philippi as we have already read in Philippians when Paul wrote to the believers there:
“For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.”
In the end, however, Paul and Silas were driven away from Thessalonica by the opposition of the Jews.
A mob was created by them; the house of Jason was attacked, and he and ‘certain brethren,’ who were supposed to have “harbored and secreted” Paul and Silas, were dragged before the magistrates and accused of receiving those who “had turned the world upside down,” and who were guilty of treason against the Roman emperor, (we read about this in Acts 17:5-7.)
So great was the uproar that the members of the church thought it best that Paul and Silas should go to a place of safety and they conveyed them by night to the neighboring city of Berea.
There the gospel was received with more favor as Paul preached without opposition, until the Jews from Thessalonica, hearing where he was, went there and got the people to turn against him there too (Acts 17:13).
So, then it became necessary that Paul should be removed to a place of safety, and he was conducted to Athens but Silas and Timothy remained at Berea.
At that time Timothy, it appears, accompanied Paul, and had been with him, as well as Luke, at Philippi and Thessalonica, though he is not mentioned as being with them until their arrival at Berea.
When Paul went to Athens, he gave commandment to those who conducted him, that Silas and Timothy should come to him as soon as possible; and while he waited for them at Athens, he delivered the infamous speech delivers on Mars’ hill (which is recorded in Acts 17:1-34.)
Their actual arrival at Athens is not mentioned by Luke in Acts 17:1-34, but the fact that Timothy came to him there appears in 1st Thessalonians 3:1-2, where it says:
“Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus our brother, etc., to comfort you concerning your faith.”
The subscription at the close of this epistle affirms that this letter was written at Athens but these subscriptions are of no authority whatever and in this case the subscription is incorrect due to the internal evidences of the epistle itself combined with the contents of Acts chapter 18.
Taking all of these evidences into account it appears that this letter to the church at Thessalonica was penned at Corinth, at about the 13th year of the reign of Claudius, which would have been about 52 AD – which without much controversy is the accepted date of the letter.
It is believed that this was the first epistle written by the apostle Paul and the second epistle to the Thessalonians is believed to have been written from the same place probably within a year of the first being composed. However,
Some scholars believe that the order of the two epistles were reversed and that what we call 1st Thessalonians should be second and vice versa.
But that is just a view without much to substantiate it. Could be true, but probably not so were sticking with what we’ve got.
Let’s talk about the general character of the church at Thessalonica.
Historians suggest, as already mentioned, that the church at Thessalonica was initially composed of the following types of people:
(1.) Jews, to which Paul always preached first and often was rejected in the end, while garnering a few converts from their ranks along the way (according to Acts 17:4)
(2.) Greeks who (according to Acts 17:4) had been proselyted first to the Jewish faith and were therefore in attendance at the synagogue gatherings to hear Paul preach. Luke refers to them as ‘devout Greeks’ meaning they were seen as, “religious Greeks,” or those who had renounced the worship of idols and who attended on the worship of the synagogue in pursuit of the living God.
These were probably what the Jews called ‘Proselytes of the Gate,’ and were people who were given a number of privileges, but who were not proselytes in the fullest sense but there were many such persons y where a synagogue was established among the Gentiles.
Interestingly, the third group of believers are Thessalonica were females, who, according to Acts 17: 4, had a more elevated standing in the community, meaning they were women of influence, and/or were connected with distinguished families of the area.
Finally, not a few members of the church appear to have been converted from idolatry by the preaching of the apostle or had connected themselves with it after he had left them.
In light of this, we will read at verse 9 of the first chapter “For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God.”
Though the apostle was greatly opposed when there and the gospel had been rejected by the great body of the inhabitants of Thessalonica, it had been welcomed by these different classes of people (according to chapter 2:13), and they appear to have been entirely harmonious in their belief of the Good News and had forgotten any of their former differences by embracing the truth of Christ.
From the text we know therefore, that
The believers there were warm toward Paul and eagerly sought his instruction on things, which caused Paul to want to visit them and write them (chapter 2:17)
And from chapter 2:7 Paul says that he had the same strong affection (which a nurse has for the children committed to her charge or a father for his children) which caused him to write them.
We know that the believers at Thessalonica not only readily embraced the gospel they sought to spread it abroad which Paul commended them for.
We also know (from chapter 2:2) that they had, at first at least, embraced the gospel amidst scenes of strife and that ever since they were converted they were opposed by the Jews, their own countrymen, and somehow they were tried by the fact that they lost some valued members of the church who were dear to them.
In response to this, Paul wrote this first epistle to encourage them (and in the process) we are provided some interesting insights to the resurrection (in chapter 4).
Apparently, an error seems also to have prevailed among them with regard to the resurrection and it caused them a great deal of anxiety due to the fact that they had had friends of the faith die prior to His return, which would launch the resurrection.
The error appears to have been the idea that those who were alive on earth when Jesus returned to take his bride would have advantages over those who had died.
So Paul will endeavor to correct these misunderstandings in our text of the first epistle by showing them that when Christ returned for his own all who had been redeemed would benefit and participate – a point we will get to in the next few weeks.
We will also discover that Paul provides to them/then instructions with reference to the second coming of the Lord, the day of judgment, and the fact that the appearing of the “day of the Lord” would be like a thief in the night in His Second letter to them.
Based on the text the believers at Thessalonica believed that his coming was almost upon them.
This was possibly the result of misinterpreting what Paul will say to them in this first epistle (1st Thessalonica 4:14-18; 5:2,3) and from some forged epistles that got into their hands.
We know this because of what Paul says in his second Epistle to them (which appears to have been written to clarify things relative to Jesus second coming).
Additionally, as it was with Galatia, it could be that Paul was being accused of cowardice because he departed from the church when they appeared to need him most.
There are a number of passages where Paul appeals to his dedication to them that suggest this might be true and when we get to them, I will try and point them out.
Of course, whenever Paul writes he warns of dangers to the church and here he does the same – which we will see.
Finally in chapter 5 it appears that there were come believers who were insubordinate to Paul (and/or other leaders in that day) and he addresses them too.
From all of these factors, plus some I am certain we have missed, Paul will compose his first and second epistle to the church at Thessalonica.
So, let’s get into our text beginning at chapter 1 verses 1-5, which serve as another one of Paul’s insightful openers:
1st Thessalonians 1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
All right, back to verse 1:
1 Paul, and Silvanus (Silas), and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we have seen in other epistles, Paul often associates his name with those who are with him in service.
Here he includes the names Silvanus, and Timotheus with his own. Perhaps this was because these two were with him when the church was established at Thessalonica or perhaps because Timothy was sent to them by Paul after he himself had been driven off through persecution.
Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to take the first five verse and read them together by taking some liberties based on this first verse – for emphasis.
Ready?
Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Based on this first passage Paul has clearly established that GOD is our Father and Jesus Christ is our Lord. This is clear and so I want to use this clarity in the next four verses that Paul writes to help us understand how Paul sees things relative to God and the Savior. And so he adds:
1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 We give thanks to God (who he has established as our Father) always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father;
4 Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God (our Father).
5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all mentioned here. But Paul, who never teaches the Trinity – ever – makes it clear in several places that is the means by which we know, understand and operate –
As children of God by faith in His Son through the Power of the Holy Spirit.
GOD is our Father
Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior
And the Holy Spirit is our power and might.
1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is really strong language describing the true church which Paul says in “in” God the Father and “in” the Lord Jesus Christ.
This was the case of the Bride then and it is the case of individuals today – as believers we are IN God our father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.
How is this so? How are we, as believers, in both the Father and the Son? I suggest that the solution lies in the fact that God was in His Son, Jesus Christ, simple as that.
I want to read you some passages to you. They are surprising passages meaning what they say, even though I have read them before, surprised me.
As you read them, try and see if you can hear how clearly they tell us that Jesus was God – with us – that God our Father was fully in Jesus (the Man from Nazareth) in whatever way that worked.
So, listen carefully to:
1st John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
Even in His Son, Jesus Christ – this is the True God. Hmmmmmm.
Consider the content of Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”
A child is born . . . called the Mighty God the everlasting Father . . . Hmmm.
How about –
Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Or
Isaiah 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
And perhaps
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
(Noting that nothing is said about knowing the third co-equal co-eternal Holy Spirit – but there is certainly a KNOWING both God our Father and His Son, isn’t there?)
What about?
Post Resurrection Thomas:
John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto Jesus, My Lord and my God.
Or
Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
And of course
1st Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
OR
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ;
Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Truly, Jesus – God with us.
So, Paul continues and says to the believers at Thessalonica at verse 2
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
And reading this I can see that to give thanks to God is to give thanks to Jesus, who was God with us, and do all things in the name of Jesus is to see Him as a mortal being with God in Him who overcame sin death and the grave on our behalf.
In other words, going one direction, I see thanking God as thanking Father and Son – for they are God, but to do things in Jesus name is to do things in the name of our LORD, who as a human being completely deified, overcame all things on our behalf, making possible a relationship with His Father.
In addition to the thanks, Paul adds that he (they – he and Timothy and Silas) had been making mention of them (the believers at Thessalonica) in their prayers.
(Just as a side note, it is highly doubtful that rote or systematized prayers of the Anglican, Catholic or Orthodox church were anywhere near the prayers that Paul and the disciples were saying, so that tells us something about rote prayers, doesn’t it?) Verse 3
3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father.
Again, we have the relationship mentioned, even in relationship to having faith and love and hope “IN the Lord Jesus Christ” (which is) “IN the sight of God our Father.”
I am really loving these introductory remarks that Paul makes in his epistles. As we have gone through the majority of them I find them full of fantastic insights into God and His Son.
Every time we start a new letter, my mind and heart toward them is expanded by his choice of words. I am personally convinced, at this point in my walk, of the following, and I share them with you NOT to bring you over to my way of thinking but to let you know that there are people out there who do not necessarily thrive in the faith by tradition.
Relative to God, I am convinced that there is one God who is our Father.
There is one Lord who is Jesus Christ.
He was the Logos of God before taking on a body of flesh (like all of us) and then with God in Him overcame that flesh to become the God-Man, our mediator, our Lord, our Savior and our King.
God our Father wants all of his creations to look to Jesus the God-Man in faith and to follow him and His commandments and is pleased with us when we do for he is the only means to the Father.
And the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God and therefore also the Spirit of Christ, works to draw all of us to our Lord and Savior.
So, Paul tells the believers at Thessalonica that when he and Timothy and Silas pray they are –
“Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.
It’s an interesting line – let’s break it down to four parts as we wrap our time up today:
“Remembering without ceasing your
1. work (ergon – work) of faith
2. and labor (kopos – cut or suffering) of love
3. and patience (hoopomone) of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ,
4. in the sight of God our Father
The line “work of faith” is interesting to me in the face of other passages like:
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
From these two sets of passages we have to see that “the works” that Paul is talking in Ephesians 2:8-9 are the works of the LAW – and that what he says here in verse 3 of 1st Thessalonians describe the inner heart works of faith of an individual.
In that way can we say that faith is a work.
And this is reasonable, in my estimation, as possessing and keeping it requires elements of faith like diligence, effort, and sometimes pain. And it make taking the path of faithlessness more inviting at times, right?
I suggest that possessing faith, even if it is gifted to us by God, is akin to possessing or being gifted a large dog.
Though a gift, it needs to be cared for, groomed, fed, picked up after and examined at times.
Additionally, faith is manifested, validated and confirmed as being present in and through our efforts (to love God and others) more than ourselves.
And that leads us to the second line:
Labor of love.
We note that Paul does not use the word ergon here, which is translated to work in scripture, but instead he uses a word that better means “cut” as in an incision through the neck.
For this reason, the word better means “pain and or suffering” rather than labor or is tied to the pain and suffering of labor.
Which Paul ties to love.
The work of faith, the pain of agape love. Of course, we understand the connection here at CAMPUS as we frequently speak of the insufferable nature of Agape love, that when it is in action the possessor of it is in all probability suffering personally somehow through
Patience toward others
Longsuffering toward things
Mercy toward others
Compassion toward others
Generosity toward others
Kindness toward others
Selflessness in the face of others
Sacrifice for others
Time given to others
And the like.
Such things are often as painful as a cut to our flesh. Paul here says that they are remembered for this labor of love present with the believers at Thessalonica.
“And patience of hope”
Patience in your trials, showing that they possessed hope or an expectation for a future blessedness. A hope of heaven, with all these things, Paul says, being IN
our Lord Jesus Christ.
And again, bringing them together
In the sight of God our Father.
To which he adds at verse 4
“Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.”
Which we will cover next week.
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PRAYER
Reed and his athletic sons visit from Whittier via Chicago
Grant
And all who are out there watching
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